


Familiar

by Britt30



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Big Hero 6: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: Evil Tadashi Hamada, Gen, Guns are used, Memory Loss, Mob Boss Tadashi Hamada, Tadashi Hamada Lives, Yakuza, and i think it's an important issue, but not really, fireblasts are used, goes by Sunfire though, hiro is kidnapped once or twice, human trafficking is discussed because this is the mob, may or may not have sick fire powers, morally gray tadashi hamada, poor kid, some violence but nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24412057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Britt30/pseuds/Britt30
Summary: The yakuza the Red Phoenixes have been expanding their territory, convincing Cass to pay protection money and causing Big Hero 6 to investigate. When Hiro infiltrates a bot fight and meets Sunfire, the new leader of the mob and notorious criminal, he is shocked to recognize his brother. With the help of his friends, family, and Sunfire's right hand (wo)man, they might just be able to help him get his memories back and take down the rival mob and their human trafficking ring at the same time.
Relationships: Baymax & Fred | Fredzilla & Wasabi-No Ginger & Hiro Hamada & Honey Lemon & Go Go Tomago, Cass Hamada & Hiro Hamada & Tadashi Hamada, Hiro Hamada & Tadashi Hamada, Tadashi Hamada/Original Character(s)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 39





	1. A Series of Setup Events

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! I'm very excited to finally be posting this fic, considering I've rewritten this story three times now. It's definitely not what I envisioned at first, but I think it's better for it. Anyhoo, enjoy!

**August 19, 2032, 11:43 p.m.**

_Hot, cold, hot, a constant throb. The man let out a whine from behind gritted teeth. His arms, hands, face- whole upper body really- was excruciating. What had happened?_

_He cracked an eye and coughed, causing his body to scream out all the more. Why could he hardly breathe?_

_“Help,” he yelled, but it came out as barely a whisper. “Help.”_

_Walls rose up on either side of him, tapering off into the ever illuminated sky of San Fransokyo. It was night and the alley he was in was chilly and hardly the ideal place to be._

_“Help,” he called again._

_“Hello?” The voice came from the opening of the alley._

_“Help.”_

_“Someone there?” He heard footsteps and soon a figure appeared in his vision, obscuring the sky from his view. It was a girl, somewhere in her late twenties, with light brown skin and hazel eyes. She looked horrified._

_“Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man. You are not in good shape pal. Hey!” she called back the way she came. “I need help in here!”_

_Two to three more people entered the alley the man guessed, but was quickly losing the will to focus._

_“Oof. Yeah, that’s got to hurt.”_

_“Think he’s worth saving?”_

_“We’ve got to try.”_

_“Oyabun might not be happy. Just look at him! Someone obviously had it in for him.”_

_“Still, could be a good asset,” one of them murmured._

_“I can hear you,” the man croaked out and they shut up. “What- what happened? Who are you?”_

_The first girl spoke up again. “Well, you got some pretty nasty burns, my dude. As for us, I’m Dakota and we-“ she said, gesturing at the others. “Are from the yakuza.”_

* * *

**July 12, 2034, 1:03 p.m.**

Cass glanced at the two shady patrons enjoying their coffee by the window. They kept glancing over at her and she was sure they must have finished their drinks 20 minutes ago. But what was really unsettling her was their tattoos.

Now, Cass wasn’t one to judge, but both men were wearing turtleneck sweaters and gloves. She only noticed the tattoos because one scratched his neck and she caught sight of the thickest patch of ink she had ever seen. On the news recently they had mentioned that the yakuza was on the rise in San Fransokyo. She was probably being paranoid, but she kept an eye on them anyway.

At last, the two men moved and approached the counter where she was finishing up with another customer.

“Can I help you?” she asked politely.

In reply, one of the men peeled off a glove and pulled up his sleeve a bit to reveal the sleeve of tattoos she had expected, along with a signet ring featuring a phoenix in front of a rising sun.

“We’re from the Red Phoenixes. The boss sends his regards.”

“I don’t want anything to do with you or your boss. Now get out of my shop before I call the cops.”

The two blinked. Obviously they had not expected the slight woman to respond so boldly.

“Now see here-“

“No. You see here. I don’t want the yakuza anywhere near my restaurant. Besides, I already frequent Mr. LaBouche’s establishment, so my loyalty is already taken. Now do I need to call the cops?”

The two grunts exchanged a look and shrugged. They turned back.

“We’ll be back,” the first one threatened with a pointed finger, then turned and marched off. The second followed, but quickly turned to say,

“Your scones are delicious by the way.” And they left.

* * *

**August 20, 2032 1:32 a.m.**

_“This tastes awful,” the man said, swallowing a mouthful of medicine. The old doctor knocked him on the head._

_“Taste awful, feel better. First rule of medicine.”_

_Dakota and the others- Alejandro, Jasmine, and Hikaru- had brought him here. The doctor had knocked him out and when he woke up, his burns were treated and bandaged and he felt worlds better._

_Well, except for one thing._

_He couldn’t remember anything._

_He had tried to introduce himself, but no name came to mind. He tried to remember how he had gotten those burns, where he was from, did he have family? But he was a blank slate._

_There was a knock at the door. Dakota popped her head in._

_“Hey, how you feeling?”_

_“Better. Thank you for saving me.”_

_“No problem.” She gestured over her shoulder. “The others went to go report to Oyabun, so until further notice, I’m your tender. You got a name, pal?”_

_“Not one that I remember,” he admitted. Her eyes widened ever so slightly._

_“You… don’t remember?”_

_“Not a thing.”_

_“Well- that sucks.” The man laughed and then groaned._

_“Yeah, you’re telling me.” He relaxed against the pillows and sighed. He just wanted to sleep. He was startled from his doze when Dakota piped up,_

_“Can I give you a nickname?”_

_It wasn’t a bad idea. “Sure. You got something in mind?”_

_“Not yet,” she grinned. “But I’ll figure it out.”_

* * *

**July 17, 2034, 8:37 p.m.**

Cass had hoped that would be it, but of course it couldn’t be that easy. She got two more visits within the next week from various ranking members and each time she was firm in her answer, even resorting to chasing one of them out with a broom.

“Hiro. Can we talk?”

Her nephew looked up from where he was fiddling with some robot part in the kitchen. “Sure Aunt Cass. What’s up?”

She pulled up a chair next to him and sighed. “I don’t know if you watch the news, but recently they’ve been reporting some yakuza- mob- activity in our area. They might target us as we’re a popular business in this area. I would feel a lot better if you didn’t go to and from school alone.”

Hiro looked surprised, but he nodded. “Of course. I’ll set things up with the others.” He reached over to give her a hug. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Maybe I could find a way to tell Big Hero 6 to patrol around here?”

She laughed. “Thank you Hiro. I’ll be fine. I just want you to be safe,” she said, brushing a hand across his cheek.

“Don’t worry. I will be.”

* * *

**July 23, 2034, 10:21 p.m.**

“Hiro, this is a stupid idea.”

“I know Gogo.”

“Like, a really stupid idea.”

“You’ve told me five times Gogo.”

Hiro continued on his way down the sidewalk, having entered the shady area of downtown about two blocks ago, after passing through Good Luck alley. Gogo growled in frustration in his earpiece.

“She has a point Hiro,” Honey Lemon agreed. “Remember the last time you went bot fighting?”

His heart dropped as he remembered how carried away he had gotten working with Trina and just wanting to fight again. But it wouldn’t happen again. This wasn’t just Yama’s little operation. This was the largest syndicate in San Fransokyo and they had threatened his home. 

“Yes, I do, Honey Lemon. But this is important. The Red Phoenix yakuza has been gaining a lot of ground recently. We need to gather some info. Besides, I’ve never been to one of their bot fights, so no one can remember any past grudges.”

“Just be careful,” Wasabi piped up. “Your aunt will kill us if anything happens to you. And honestly, she scares me more than the yakuza.”

“Okay, I’m almost there. I’ll be silent until I get in.”

The street he turned onto was alive with activity. Paper lanterns hung from the eves of shops, making an archway over the street. Red, orange, and yellow flags hung everywhere, most of them depicting a phoenix in front of a rising sun. People were walking to and fro, haggling at food stalls and in shops, gambling and being scammed equally on street games, and, in the very center of the intersection, was the bot fight. 

It looked vicious even from where Hiro was standing. He approached, trying to get a good look at who was fighting, but couldn’t see over the crowd. He skirted the edge, looking for an opening, but before he could even think about getting close, he was pulled backwards by some rough hands.

“Hey! Watch it!” He trailed off as, unfortunately, he recognized these two bot fighters from a fight about a year and a half ago. The woman was sporting a bright blue mohawk while the man had ponytail and a beard. Both had small phoenix tattoos on their necks.

“Megabot,” the woman said. “What a surprise. We have some unfinished business,” she said, tucking a knife under Hiro’s ribcage, not breaking skin, but keeping it there threateningly. “If you have a minute, that is.”

“I told you this was a stupid idea,” Gogo said.

* * *

**August 31, 2032, 6:56 p.m.**

_“Where are we going?”_

_“Oyabun wants to meet with you,” Dakota said. She looked kind of nervous and kept rapping her fingers on the steering wheel. They had been driving for almost fifteen minutes out of downtown and across San Fransokyo Bridge up to the ritzy part of town._

_“What should I know before I meet him?” he asked._

_“Be honest,” she said. “Unless you’re a really good liar, you won’t get away with it, Jap. And I’d hate to lose you right after saving you. He’ll want you to join the yakuza. Prove you’ll be an asset or-“ She didn’t finish the sentence. A moment later, they pulled up a long, wraparound driveway to the front of a large, white house._

_The two stepped out of the car and were escorted inside to a parlor. Their escort, a short, red headed man, gestured for Dakota to sit._

_“Boss wants to talk to him first. Wait here.” Then to Jap, “Follow me.”_

_The house was opulent, decked out in red, white, and gold. Very stylish. Pottery, tapestries, and paintings adorned the halls they travelled until they arrived in front of a dark wood door. The man knocked and a moment later someone replied, “Come in.” The servant opened the door and held it for Jap to walk through._

_“Ah. Our mysterious visitor. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”_

_For the boss of a mob, he looked like a normal Japanese man. He was stout, with short black hair, and a pair of wire rim glasses. He smiled and gestured to the seat in front of his desk. Jap took a seat and Oyabun reached under his desk, pulling out a bottle of wine._

_“Might I tempt you?”_

_“No thank you, I don’t drink.” That made Jap pause. So he couldn’t remember his family, but he could remember he didn’t drink. Useful. Not._

_Oyabun shrugged and poured himself a glass before replacing the bottle._

_“So, tell me about yourself, shinjin.” Stranger. How did you come to be in my care?”_

_Jap related what he remembered of his first encounter with Dakota and the others, his care under the doctor, and progress on his recovery._

_“I have no memory of who I was before though. Dakota’s been calling me Jap, but, I don’t remember anything. Except that I don’t drink apparently,” he laughed, but quickly quelled it, waiting for Oyabun’s response._

_“You place me in an interesting position shinjin. It is obvious that somebody had it out for you. Why should I stick my neck out for you and not just finish the job?” He peered over the top of his glasses at him and Jap gulped._

_“You’ve taken care of me this far,” he said, carefully weighing his words. “I don’t remember who I was; I have nothing to go back to. I can’t tell you what my talents are, but if you give me a chance, I will prove to you that I can be a valued asset and am loyal to the yakuza and you.” He bowed as much as he could in the chair and waited for an answer._

_He wasn’t expecting Oyabun to laugh. “Very well shinjin, I will give you a chance. Your first test is now.”_

_He was certainly not expecting two ninjas to leap from the shadows, knocking him out of the chair and away from the desk. One had a katana and the other, a pair of nun chucks. Adrenaline coursed through his system as he leapt to his feet and landed in an aikido stance. Had he known aikido? He didn’t have time to ponder further as the katana wielding ninja charged at him._

_He ducked under the sword and threw the ninja over his shoulder. They flipped and landed perfectly, much to his chagrin. The nun chuck ninja came at him next, landing a hit on his shoulder, and making him wince. He held one arm up, attempting to block the nun chucks from hitting his face and tried a palm strike with the other. It was no use, he was going to miss._

_But the flame that erupted from his palm did not._

_The ninja shrieked in pain and backed up, trying to smother the flaming material of their mask. The remaining ninja appraised him more warily now. But Jap didn’t care. Going on instinct and panic, he charged, catching them off guard, and grabbed the sword between his palms. The blade turned red hot in his hands and the ninja dropped it, hissing as their own hand steamed. Jap backed up and glanced warily between all of them._

_“I don’t want to hurt them,” he told Oyabun. Oyabun glanced at the two fighters and held up a fist. They quickly retreated._

_“Congratulations. You passed. Did you know you could do that?”_

_“I- no. That’s new.”_

_“Very well. Very few people have impressed me shinjin, but I do believe you might be one of them. Dakota will be your handler. She will train you in our ways and when she thinks that you are ready, you will become a member of the Red Phoenixes._

_“I must warn you though. Should your memories return, you can’t ever go back to that life. And if you make any move to seek out that life, I will finish the job. Understand?”_

_“Yes, sir. I understand.”_

_“One more thing. You need a name. Jap will not do, and you are no longer a shinjin.  
“Your new name... is Nikko. Sunfire. Welcome to the Red Phoenixes.” _

_In a daze, Sunfire bowed and was dismissed. He stared at his hands as he returned to the parlor, mind spinning with everything that had happened and what he had agreed to. It wasn’t a bad deal. But why did his heart feel like it was breaking? He shook his head, trying to clear it, looking ahead as he found Dakota. He couldn’t afford to look back now._

_Whoever he had been was dead. Now, he was Sunfire._

* * *

**July 20, 2034, 10:00 p.m.**

The last patron was finishing their coffee while Cass wiped down the tables and stacked chairs. The sign was already flipped to closed and all that remained was to lock the door. Hiro was upstairs working on homework and later they were going to watch the new Mission Impossible movie. The man smiled and thanked Cass as he left. She put the last chair up on the table then, wiping her hands on her apron, moved to lock the door. Just as she reached for the lock, someone pushed it open.

The man was tall, his black hair dashingly undercut, with Japanese features and a piercing gaze. He was wearing a suit and smiled gently at her before pushing his way into the store.

“Um, sorry sir, but we’re closed now actually. We open again at 8 am.”

“Oh, I know. I won’t be long.” Her blood ran cold. That voice. She thought, but she wasn’t sure- “You’re the owner, Cass, correct?” 

“I- yes, that’s me. Listen, if this is about the protection money, I already talked to your goons or whatever and-“

“Yes, yes. They informed me of your disinterest and… other affiliations. We’ve talked to Mr. LaBouche and he’s agreed to become a client of ours. We mentioned your disinterest and he assured us that only paying clients would be able to participate in their showdowns from now on.”

“Now hold on-“

“You have a nephew correct? It can be a little bit shady getting home from the college campus at night. We could watch out for him-“

“Don’t you dare drag Hiro into-“

“And your bakery is simply charming. It would really a shame,” he drawled, extending his hand, a flame springing to life in the center of his palm, “If something were to happen to it.”

Cass stared at the flame and then into the gang member’s face. From the base of his neck and running up the side of his face she could see burn scars. Why – it couldn’t be.

“Fine,” she said. “But I want to know exactly what sort of protection I’ll be getting. And your word that you won’t go anywhere near my nephew.”

“Done. You can count on us to keep any fighting away from this area and I’m sure you’ll see quite an influx of business. I hear your scones are to die for. Anything else?”

She hesitated. 

“No. Not for now. How much do I owe? And how often?”

“$300. Every month. I’ll send someone to pick it up.” 

“Okay. Wait here.” She ducked behind the counter and opened the register, quickly counting out $300, then passing it over to the man. 

“A pleasure doing business with you.”

“We’ll see. Have a good night,” she said, customer service ever on the tip of her tongue. 

“You as well.”

The man left and Cass was left alone with an uncomfortable feeling and her spinning thoughts. She locked the door and the register before heading upstairs, hoping she hadn’t just made a big mistake.

On the way up she paused to look at some of the family pictures. Her sister and brother-in-law. Mochi in a Stitch costume. Hiro and Tadashi as young boys. And then the picture of them taken about a month before the SFIT fire. She stared into Tadashi’s face, trying to piece it together, filled with both hope and despair. In an instant, everything clicked together and Cass knew.

And she sat down on the stairs and cried.

* * *

**July 23, 2034 10:41 p.m.**

Hiro was ushered down a small alley between two shops and was pinned up against the wall, knife now to his throat.

“As I recall,” the man mused. “You screwed us over and owe us 100,000 yen.”

“I don’t have any money on me, I didn’t come to play,” he explained. 

“Cut the crap-“ Before he could be threatened further, a figure appeared at the end of the alleyway.

“What’s going on down there?”

All three of them froze, the voice familiar for very different reasons.

“N-nothing Sunfire. Just, this kid’s a scammer. We’re teaching him a lesson.”

“Hm,” the figure mused as they approached, his face obscured by the backlighting. “And who gave you permission to teach my patrons a lesson?” 

“No one, Sunfire.”

“We’re sorry.”

“You better be. Now get out of here.”

They dropped Hiro, and the knife, and ran past Sunfire. Hiro was still recovering when the man extended a hand to help him up.

“Sorry about that, kid. Are you alright?”

“Hiro, who is that?” Honey Lemon piped up. So they had heard it too.

And sure enough, when Hiro looked into the face of his savior, it was his brother staring back.

“Tadashi.”


	2. Life Advice from Your Amnesiac Criminal Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiro talks to his brother feat. high speed car chases and getting some help from the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, thank you guys so much for your kind comments and kudos! Without further ado, enjoy!

“Who?” 

“Tadashi, it’s me, Hiro.”

“Uh, sorry kid. I don’t know who you’re talking about. You should probably get home. You’re kinda young to be hanging around here.” Sunfire turned around and left the way he came, leaving Hiro to scramble to his feet and follow.

“Hiro? What’s going on?” Gogo demanded.

“You said it’s Tadashi?” Fred asked. But Hiro wasn’t focused on them. Back in the bustling street, people were moving around, shouting as a bot met its match and was trashed. Hiro stood on his tip toes, trying to spot his brother in the moving crowd. There!

He snaked his way through, trying not to get crushed, and eventually emerged to see Sunfire talking to a woman with light brown skin, sporting short pig tails, and a bandana. She looked out of breath and scared. Hiro just managed to catch the end of her sentence. 

“-‘s dead. Hikaru killed him and he’s coming for you next.”

“How long?”

The woman shook her head. “Any minute.”

“Alright.” He put his fingers to his mouth and let out an ear piercing whistle. “Listen up! We got trouble coming. Get away and lay low. Winnings will be paid out later.”

Immediately the crowd scattered. Within seconds the streets were deserted, flags taken down, lanterns put out, and Hiro was following his brother down another side street.

“Hiro!” Gogo yelled, making him jump.

“Give me a minute!” he hissed, but Tadashi and his friend had heard him.

“I told you to get lost kid. What are you still doing here?” Sunfire demanded. 

Sometimes, Hiro was incredibly smart. Other times, Hiro was incredibly dumb. This was one of those other times.

“I… want to join the yakuza.” He heard his friends face palm simultaneously.  
Sunfire didn’t get a chance to respond. He glanced up and a split second later, pushed Hiro to the ground, covering him with his own body as a torrent of bullets flew over them.

“Dakota! Get him somewhere safe. I’ve got this.” He shoved Hiro towards the woman who grabbed his wrist and sprinted down the street.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Dakota!”

“Hiro!”

Hiro glanced back just long enough to see a wall of fire erupt from Tadashi’s hands, melting bullets in their path. People were screaming as Tadashi continued forward.

The streets grew quieter and darker as they ran. Hiro didn’t notice immediately, but in the chaos, his earpiece had fallen out. At one point they passed under a freeway ramp and into an apartment building on the other side. For where it was located, it was in pretty good condition aside from the smell of cigarette smoke. 

“Hope you don’t have asthma,” Dakota breathed, letting them in to one of the units. “Make yourself at home. Sunfire should catch up to us soon.” She collapsed on a couch and patted the arm of the chair next to her. “Come on, don’t be shy. So, y’know Jap?”

“Uh, yeah. He saved me from some muggers.”

“Hm. And? Nothing else?” She knew he was holding something back.

“I-“ Could he trust her? “He’s my brother, Tadashi.” Her face fell.

“Sunfire doesn’t have family. I’m sorry, but, he can’t be your brother.”

“But! Look!” Hiro grabbed his phone and pulled up a selfie they took before his presentation the night of the fire at SFIT. “Here.”

He passed her the phone and Dakota’s eyes widened. Hiro quickly summarized the events of that night and pulled up the newspaper article about it while Dakota nodded along, looking dumbfounded, but also sad.

“Look,” she said, passing the phone back to him. “I believe you. But, Sunfire- Tadashi- he’s not the same person that he was. We- the yakuza- found him, saved his life, and, in return, he had to join up. He’s one of the boss’s second in commands. He is high, high up there, kid. But our boss just got killed by the other second. Unless Tadashi can get control of things, this city is going to become a very dangerous place.”

“Well, let me help then! Let me help and then when all this is over, you can help me help him remember.”

“I don’t make those decisions Hiro. I would be down, but you’ll have to take it up with him,” she said, nodding at the opening door. Sunfire stepped in, brow furrowed and shoulders sagging. He groaned and collapsed on the couch next to Dakota.

“So you still want to join the yakuza?” he eventually asked. Hiro nodded. “Well you picked a hell of a time.” Tadashi wiped a hand down his face then sat forward, looking Hiro in the face. “Go home kid. You’re young, you’re bright. This isn’t the kind of life you want. Besides, I promised your aunt I wouldn’t get you involved in anything.”

“You’ve talked to Aunt Cass?!”

“Yeah, she pays us protection money. Not surprised she didn’t tell you. Come on. Dakota, feel out our allies while I take the kid home.” He got to his feet, gesturing for Hiro to follow. 

“But, wait! I can help!”

“No offense, Hiro, but you’re a kid and I’ve got a war on my hands. Let’s go.”  
Reluctantly, Hiro followed his brother out the door and outside to where a nice black car was waiting. The two of them got in and Tadashi got them onto the freeway. 

Hiro stared at his brother as they drove. Burn scars marred the right side of his face now. He had a different haircut. He was wearing a white, button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up revealing stunning tattoos, a phoenix on each arm whose tail feathers wrapped down and around, ending with a feather on each finger. He thought back to what he had said about the protection money.

“So, you’ve been to the Lucky Cat Café before? What did you think?”

Tadashi side eyed him. “Nice place. Great pastries.” A moment of silence. “So why did you come to the bot fight tonight?” 

“Uh, to fight?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out Megabot and ran his hand over it. He hadn’t actually come to fight, but he figured he better have some sort of good alibi. He looked over at his brother and paused. “Uh, T-Sunfire? That-“ He didn’t get to finish the sentence before the back window was shattered by a spray of bullets.

Tadashi swore and swerved into the next lane, gunning it even as the sound of gunfire followed them. Hiro twisted around in his seat and saw the car- or cars- that were following them, barrels sticking out of the windows and aimed at them. He scrambled for his remote control and Megabot came to life.

“Megabot. Destroy!” The little robot gave a tiny salute and climbed onto the roof of the car. It speedily rolled across the roof and launched itself onto the next car, ripping the gun from the hands of whoever was firing it. A pothole made Hiro’s finger slip and in return Megabot fired the gun at the second pursuing car, shooting up the side of the door and at least two tires. Hiro watched in horror as they attempted to regain control of the car, but ended up swerving into an innocent minivan in the next lane. Megabot dropped the gun and leapt into the car, slapping the driver silly. This driver, at least, managed to slam on the brakes and pull off to the side. In an instant, Megabot was out of car and unscrewing the bolts on the front tires. Mission accomplished, the robot hopped onto a passing semi and then back into Hiro’s hand as they passed.

Tadashi was looking frantically between the rearview mirror and the road. “Was that your robot that did that?!” Tadashi didn’t leave him time to respond before gunning it again and getting in front of the semi. Two more cars appeared to be in pursuit. “Sorry kid. Looks like you’re involved now.” Tadashi cut across two lanes of traffic to make it to the next exit. Hiro held on for dear life as they took corners on two wheels before coming to a stop in front of a decrepit looking strip mall. 

Four cars came around the corner and surrounded them. 

“Stay low,” Sunfire whispered and got out. Eight people total got out of the cars that had been following them, each toting a large gun. Sunfire turned to face two of the better dressed ones, wearing suits and red scarves.

“So Oyabun’s dead,”Sunfire said, leaning casually against the car, hands in his pockets. “By your hand I hear.”

One of the men laughed. He was the shortest one there and his long hair was tied back in a ponytail. “You heard right. And you’re next Nikko.”

Tadashi looked at the second man. “And what about you Alejandro? You’re just going to let him take over like that?”

Alejandro shrugged. “We’ve been planning this for a while. I trust Hikaru. He promised me things would be better.”

“And by better you mean we would finally start working with the Magpies. You’re a pervert Alejandro. Oyabun was right not to get involved with the human trafficking.”

“Shut up!” Hikaru yelled. He leveled his gun at Tadashi, but Hiro’s brother still didn’t look worried. Moving carefully, breath shallow and hyped up on adrenaline, Hiro turned Megabot on again and cracked the door open just enough to let him slip through.

“Any last words before we end this? I bet the brat you’re hiding will fetch a good price.” Sunfire’s gaze grew stormy. 

“Don’t touch the kid.”

“Yeah? Or wha- AH!” Hikaru screamed as something crawled up his pant leg. He doubled over as it hit him where it hurt then traveled into his shirt and popped out of the collar and knocked the gun from his hand before leaping over onto Alejandro’s face. 

And suddenly it was a fire fight. Everyone was shooting, Sunfire made a wall-like ring of fire around the car and was blasting anyone and everyone he could, including torching the four remaining cars. Hiro watched in fear as his brother fought without mercy, setting at least half of the attackers on fire and melting the guns right out of the hands of the others.

Hikaru was clutching his burned hands as Sunfire approached and picked him up by the lapels.

“You’re not in charge here anymore, Hikaru. I am.” He channeled heat into his signet ring and branded the side of his neck before dropping him. He glanced at Alejandro and saw where a stray bullet had caught him. Probably for the best.

The wall of fire around their car dropped as he got back in. He tried to ignore Hiro’s stare of horror and confusion as they drove off.

“You still not convinced that this isn’t the life for you?”

Hiro didn’t respond. The rest of the ride was quiet as they finished their drive to the Lucky Cat Café. 

“Thanks for the ride. And keeping me safe,” Hiro said as he got ready to climb out.

“No problem. And thanks for your help as well. That’s an insane robot. But with a head like yours, I’m sure you could do better than us.”

“Heh. I’ll remember that.”

Hiro watched from the sidewalk as Tadashi drove off and he clutched Megabot tighter. No matter what it took, he would find a way to get his brother back.

:::::::::::::::::

Later that night, Dakota stood beside the window keeping watch over the street while Sunfire went through Oyabun’s desk for anything important. Oyabun’s body still lay on the floor, the carpet soaked with blood, next to the armchair he had been sitting in when Hikaru had come to call.

“Done.” Dakota let the curtain fall close and went to join Sunfire at the desk where he was poring over some ledgers.

“I found his will. We need to get in contact with his sister and daughters. And he left a letter to his successor.”

He held up a red envelope sealed with a white stamp, but didn’t move to open it.

Dakota placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “That’s yours Jap. You earned it.”

“But do I even want it?” he asked, somewhere between a laugh and a sob. Dakota couldn’t help the small smile that came to her face.

“That kid got to you a lot more than you’re letting on, huh. Tell me what’s on your mind Jap.” Sunfire sighed and sagged into the desk chair while Dakota hopped up onto the desk.

Tadashi bounced his knee, mouth set in a thin line. “When you first brought me to Oyabun I had a choice to make: join the yakuza or die. After that, I had another choice: stick with the yakuza or die. Oyabun made that clear. If I did anything to seek out my previous life-“ He ran a finger across his throat. “That was it. So I gave my all, I become second in command. And now,” he laughed, “Oyabun’s dead. I’m the head of the largest syndicate in San Fransokyo. And now, this kid shows up claiming to be my brother and I’m just- I have a chance- what am I supposed to do with that?”

Dakota didn’t say anything, giving Tadashi a moment to gather his thoughts before he continued. 

“I’ve thought about my family every day since you found me- wondering who they were, if I would ever remember them. Were they looking for me? Did they miss me? But now… I know that even if I did find them, there’s no way I could go back to who I was before. I can’t outrun the things I’ve done as Sunfire, no matter how much I’d like to.”

“So what are you gonna do about Hiro? If he really is your brother, could you really put him through losing you a second time?”

Tadashi didn’t answer for a long time.

“Yes. Because, in the long run, it’s less painful than the alternative.”

::::::::::::::::::::

The others were less than pleased with Hiro when he finally answered their 23 missed calls. The next day they convened at the café to talk about what they knew.

“So Tadashi’s alive?” Honey Lemon asked for the third time. “And working for the yakuza.”

“Not just working for them, he’s in charge now,” Hiro said.

“Found it.” Wasabi turned his laptop around so the others could see it. It was a news article from about six months ago. There was a picture of Tadashi standing next to who they assumed was the old Oyabun with Hikaru on the other side as they exited a restaurant.

Hiro pointed to the other man. “That’s the one that killed their boss. And then last night Tadashi- Tadashi tried to kill him.”

“You’re sure?” Honey Lemon asked.

“Yes! He’s sure!” Gogo yelled. “Our friend is back from the dead and a wanted criminal and we have to accept it.” The others couldn’t believe it, but she sounded on the brink of tears.

“What are we going to do?” Fred asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Hiro admitted. “He doesn’t remember anything. And it doesn’t seem like he wants to.” They sat there in thought for a minute. “There was a girl though- Dakota- that he seemed to be really close to. I showed her some pictures and the news story about the fire and she believes it’s him. Maybe we can talk to her.”

“Talk to me about what?”

The five of them jumped and sure enough, there was Dakota standing between Wasabi and Fred. She looked a lot more put together than she had last night, running from gunfire. Her dark blonde hair hung in short, wavy curls and she had on a cute, red cardigan. Then she shifted and Hiro caught a glimpse of the gun tucked against her side.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. Boss just wanted me to come and check on you and your aunt.” She glanced at them all and her shoulders drooped a little. “I’m guessing you all knew him too? Before…”

“Yeah,” Honey Lemon sighed. “He was our best friend.”

“What was he like? If, you don’t mind me asking.”

“Really smart. Really friendly,” Wasabi said. “He was a robotics major.”

“Last night wasn’t the first time he rescued me at a bot fight,” Hiro said with a little laugh. “The night I got blacklisted at Yama’s ring he rescued me on his scooter and we ended up jumping off this massive ramp- it was insane.”

Before long they were laughing, telling stories about their friend. Dakota pulled up a chair and listened with an enraptured smile on her face.

“I’m Wasabi by the way,” the physicist said after sharing a story. “I don’t think any of us have introduced ourselves.” Introductions were given, majors listed, and they got to know each other a little better.

“Okay,” she said after they all finished laughing at something Fred had said. “Can you guys keep a secret?” They all glanced at one another, but finally nodded. “Sun- Tadashi didn’t actually send me.” She summarized their conversation from the previous night and his deal with Oyabun. “And now he’s in a whole ‘nother pickle now that he’s the boss. Y’see, the other seconds vying for power all want to make ties with the Korean mob, the Magpies, and start helping them with their human trafficking ventures.”

“What?!” they all cried. Hiro’s brow furrowed.

“Yeah. It’s bad. And Jap- Tadashi- doesn’t want that. So I think that he thinks that he can’t leave the mob behind because if he did it would put more people in danger.” 

She turned to Hiro. “Last night, you said you wanted to help. If you can help us take down the Magpies that could give Tadashi the opportunity to return to his old life.” She sighed. “I know you guys are all super smart and love your friend, but I also know how crazy this idea sounds. If only we could get Big Hero 6 involved, am I right?”

She waited for them to laugh and when they did it was awkward with lots of forced smiles and worried eye contact. It felt like a light bulb appeared above her head.

“Shut up. You’re joking. You guys-“

“I, uh, think we can help you out with that,” Hiro smiled.

::::::::::::::::::::::::

Tadashi turned the envelope around and around in his hands, trying to convince himself to open it. He had called Oyabun’s family and his body had been taken to the morgue. The funeral would be tomorrow, not that he was going to be there. Cops were sure to be swarming the place or worse, Big Hero 6. The last thing he needed was superheroes getting involved. He had a syndicate to run.

He tore open the top of the envelope and pulled out the letter inside, written in Japanese and addressed to him. That surprised him.

_‘Nikko,_

_I knew it would be you. Since the day you arrived I knew you had a certain ‘fire’ within you. I know you will continue to uphold the honor and prestige of the Red Phoenixes._

_You might be thinking of leaving and reclaiming your old life. However, you cannot do this. It is only you I trust to lead in my place and you have to know by now that your family will not accept you back._

_I wish you the best of luck,_

_Eiichi Nakamura’ _  
Well, that was encouraging. He wasn’t surprised though; Oyabun had always been like that. Tadashi sighed. He was tired of this life. He didn’t even feel like he was living it, just surviving in it, like he had been doing every day for the past year and a half.__

__His thoughts wandered to the boy from last night- Hiro. Was he really his brother? No one knew about his memory loss; that was a secret he, Oyabun, and Dakota kept close to their chests, so it didn’t make sense for someone to just come along claiming to be related to one of the most wanted criminals in the state if they hadn’t meant it._ _

__Tadashi shook his head. He didn’t have time to worry about this- couldn’t worry about it. There was a second piece of paper with a list of contacts and passwords that he would need to know to continue the clan business. Not to mention Hikaru was still alive- he would need to keep close tabs on him, make sure he didn’t contact the Magpies- and he had to make sure his position in power was solidified. There were also the drug shipments coming in this month that he needed to coordinate with Liv Amara, along with paying out the winnings from last night’s bot fight and the fights to come in the next month._ _

__His brain spun as he thought of everything there was to do and got to work._ _


	3. Rescue Missions and Revealed Identities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BH6 follow a tip to rescue some kids. Hikaru gets a good look at Hiro's face and things go south from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Also, can anyone tell what movie reference I snuck into this chapter? :D

“You guys have visual?” Hiro asked. He and Baymax were positioned over the bay on a windmill overseeing the port. A ship had docked earlier that day and Dakota had it on good authority that it had a shipment of kids and teens from all over southeast Asia and would be leaving the next day with a shipment back.

“Yeah, we got it,” Wasabi responded. He, Honey Lemon, and Gogo were waiting in his car for the action to begin.

Fred wiggled excitedly in Baymax’s hands. “I’m so ready to get down there. Come on, where are the bad guys?”

“Wait, I think I see something.”

A black sports car pulled into the port followed by a tour bus. Three people got out of the car and four more got off the bus; two of them took up a position on either side of the door. Hiro pulled Baymax’s feed up in his helmet. “Baymax, zoom in.” The first two from the car were a man and a woman that he didn’t recognize. The third was definitely Hikaru.

The two goons who had gotten off the bus approached one of the dozens of shipping containers and pried the door open with a large squeal. The man from the car barked out a command and people started shuffling forward. Hiro and the others couldn’t quite contain their gasps of disbelief.

Around forty people made their way out of the container and onto the solid ground of the port. Even from the air, Hiro could tell that most of them were kids and teenagers with only the occasional adult in the mix.

“We’ve got to help,” Wasabi stated.

“They look so scared,” Honey Lemon said.

“Go pop the wheels on the bus. We’ll keep them distracted. Ready Fred?”

“Let’s do this.”

Just as the guards started to direct the people towards the bus, Baymax dropped Fred who flipped and landed and shot a burst of flame from his mouth effectively halting the process. Baymax and Hiro landed a moment later.

“It’s over,” Hiro declared. “Don’t move. The authorities will be here soon.” The man and woman exchanged a glance then smiled.

“Sure they are,” the man drawled. “And what will they find when they arrive?” He gestured at the group. “A few dozen illegal immigrants. They’ll be sent back to the very lives they were trying to escape from. We’re trying to help them- give them a new life here.”

“Sure you are,” Hiro said, mimicking his tone. The man’s smile fell then turned into a scowl. He turned to the group of teens and started shouting something. It was obviously making the group upset, to the point of tears or yelling.

“Baymax, time to use that translator of yours. What’s he saying?”

“He is telling them that we are the bad guys and want to send them back where they came from and if they want to stay here they need to attack us.”

“Well that’s not good.” Sure enough, some of them were starting to inch forward, though most looked doubtful and scared. “Mind relaying a message back?”

“Of course.” Baymax turned to the group and drowned out the other man by turning up his volume and speaking in Tagalog. They were pleasantly surprised by that and seemed to calm down much to the chagrin of what could only be one of the Magpie bosses. He barked something, but was drowned out by the loud BANG of a tire blowing.

That sent everyone into a panic. Hikaru and the woman turned toward the bus and started unloading their guns at the others while the man tried to shout orders at the now panicking group. Some inched back towards the shipping container, others darted to the sides, trying to escape. When it became clear he wouldn’t be able to stop them, he drew his gun on Hiro.

“You’ll pay for this.”

“Baymax.”

The robot shot a rocket fist and the mob leader barely dodged out of the way. He tucked and rolled and stayed low as Baymax’s fist turned around and came rocketing back to him.

“Fred! Protect the kids!” Hiro shouted. “Baymax, let’s go.”

By then Honey Lemon had trapped two of the four goons in goop. Wasabi was going hand to hand with the woman while Gogo was duking it out with Hikaru. He was faster than he seemed and, with what Hiro thought was a lucky shot, he shot one of Gogo’s skates, causing her to crash into a pile of old crates and pallets. Baymax took off and scooped up the remaining two goons in his arms, then dropped them in front of Honey Lemon where she quickly incapacitated them as well.

With Gogo momentarily distracted, Hikaru turned towards Hiro and took a shot. The kid genius would have bet that he was too high up for Hikaru to hit him, but the bullet now lodged in his mask would prove him wrong.

Hiro felt his heart start beating again as he realized he was not, in fact, dead. He gently touched the fracture that ran the length of his mask and gasped as it shattered the rest of the way and fell off.

“We need to get their guns.”

As he said this though, the Magpie boss was yelling something in Korean and the other two started to fall back to the car. Wasabi tried to punch the woman, but she judo flipped him onto his back and ran for it.

“Let’s follow the-“ Hiro started to say, but decided against it as one of them stuck a semiautomatic out the window and laid down a spray of bullets in their wake. “On second thought, let them go. Let’s help these kids out.”

::::::::::::::::::

Baymax began speaking to the kids in every language he thought any of them might need to understand, covering most of the languages spoken in the Philippines, along with Korean, Malay, and Mandarin. He, Honey Lemon, and Fred checked them over for injuries and put them at ease. Once the danger was gone, the kids relaxed a bit. A lot of them were fascinated by Fred’s suit and they laughed as a wave of kids engulfed him.

Hiro and the others got on the line with the police and the human trafficking hotline, figuring out what to do. It took a little bit, but eventually a couple police cars and one unmarked car made it to the pier.

A tall, gray haired man with a large nose and kind eyes got out of the unmarked car and came to speak to them. He was dressed in a gray, tweed suit.

“Big Hero 6, I’m Agent Dicker with the FBI. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” They all shook hands and introduced themselves while the police started taking statements from the kids with Baymax’s help.

“So tell me what went down here.”

They recounted the stake out, confrontation, and fight. When Agent Dicker asked how they knew what was going to go down here they said they got an anonymous tip at a bot fight they had infiltrated.

Agent Dicker nodded. “You’ve done a great thing here tonight. Human trafficking is one of the biggest issues on the west coast. We’re grateful to have your help. Do you think you could identify the three people that got away from some photos?”

“Probably,” Hiro said. Agent Dicker pulled up some mug shots and after scrolling through a couple, they found the ones they were looking for.

“Jun-ha and Hyun-joo. Brother and sister. They’ve been running the Magpie syndicate for the last decade since their father got sick. And the third- you’re sure it was this man?”

“Positive,” Hiro said. He had removed his helmet a while ago; with his mask broken everyone could see his face anyway. “At the bot fight, there was talk of infighting in the Red Phoenixes and that some of them wanted to work with the Magpies.”

"Well that is worrying to say the least. We’ll take these guys into custody,” he said, nodding at the goons. “And see what they know. We’ll take care of the kids too. They’ll get temporary visas while we figure out if it would be better for them to stay or go back home, but don’t worry, we’ll look after them. That robot of yours sure is something,” he chuckled as Baymax, seemingly out of nowhere, found a lollipop to give to a young girl.

“Yeah. He’s the best out of all of us,” Hiro agreed with a smile.

“Here’s my card,” Agent Dicker said. “Call if you find anything else out. We’ll be in touch.”

The rest of the night passed in a haze as the kids were taken to a local Big Brothers/Big Sisters shelter for the night and the group of tired superheroes flew and drove home.

_“Good job tonight guys,”_ Hiro texted as they landed at home. _“Gogo, how’s your foot?”_

_“It’s fine. He just knocked my skate out of alignment. It’ll be a pain to fix, but I’ll be okay.”_

_“What about you Hiro?”_ Wasabi asked. _“You’re the one who nearly got shot in the face.”_

_“Yeah, that was… scary to put it mildly,”_ Hiro admitted. _“But I’m okay.”_ He yawned. _“I am so glad school is out. I’m sleeping til noon. See you guys tomorrow.”_

The others texted various good nights, Honey Lemon’s littered with emojis, and Hiro set his phone down to change out of his suit. He would need to repair his helmet before putting his suit back in its little shuttle. The top inch of the mask was still intact, the bottom of it was an uneven ridge with a perfect semicircle halfway through where it had stopped the bullet. Hiro grimaced. Yeah, that would’ve been bad.

The thought briefly crossed his mind that they might have seen his face, but he shook the uncomfortable thought off. Even if they did, it must have been brief and chaotic. Besides, it wasn’t like any of them would know who he was. He would be fine.

:::::::::::::::::::::::

“Hikaru, you better have a good reason for bothering me after that fiasco,” Hyun-joo said. She was already in pajamas and just wanted to catch a couple hours of sleep before she had to start the day. They were supposed to send fifteen kids back on the same ship tomorrow, but that would be impossible now. Feds were sure to be swarming the pier and surrounding area. There was no way they would be able to get them through undetected. She would have to look at alternatives tomorrow. Her brother sat in an arm chair in the corner of the room sharpening a knife while she glared at Hikaru from her bed.

“It is a good reason, I promise,” Hikaru said from the doorway. “You know the boy that was riding on the robot? I shot his mask off. I got a good look at him too.” He sounded so proud, so sly.

She wasn’t impressed. “Okay, congrats. You might know what the leader of Big Hero 6 looks like. So what?”

“So what is that I’ve seen him before. With Sunfire.” That got their attention.

“What?” Hyun-joo whispered. Jun-ha sat forward.

“That’s right. He was in the car with Sunfire while we were in pursuit the other day. He had another, smaller robot that wrecked two of my cars. Sunfire was very protective of him.”

“That is interesting,” Jun-ha admitted, sitting back again. “What are you saying we do about it?”

“I say we find the kid and use him as leverage against Sunfire. With a little bit of added revenge on Big Hero 6 to get them to stop meddling in our affairs.”

“That does sound really tempting,” Hyun-joo mused. “But we have no real idea of who he is to Sunfire. I would hate to piss off Big Hero 6 for no good reason.”

“Give me twenty-four hours,” Hikaru said. “And I’ll have all the information you need.”

“Done. Now get out of here. Some of us need our beauty sleep."

:::::::::::::::

Dakota met them at Fred’s house the next day so they could debrief her on what had happened and what they had learned.

“This is a swanky place you got here,” she said, turning around slowly as they walked down the main hall.

“Thanks, my parents have okay taste,” Fred said. “But wait until you see my room. That’s where the best stuff is.”

Dakota’s reaction was about on par with the rest of theirs the first time they saw Fred’s room.

“Oh wow. This is… nice.”

“Yeah, it’s something alright,” Gogo said, flopping onto one of the couches. “So here’s what we got.”

They summed up the events of the previous night, Dakota’s gaze growing darker as they went.

“Alright, time to put a hit out on our boy Hikaru for good,” she muttered, making a mental note. “Good job though. What you guys did was really important.”

“So what’s the next step?” Hiro asked.

“For now, just keep doing what you guys do. I need to talk to Sunfire and see if I can get any info on what the Magpies will do next.”

“How… how is he doing, by the way?” Honey Lemon asked. Dakota gave her a rueful smile.

“He’s doing alright. He’s stressed and frustrated, but he’s doing good.” She sighed. “I should probably be getting back. I’ve got things to do. Thanks for letting me come by and, well, for everything.”

“Of course. We’re here to help,” Hiro said. He and Fred walked her to the front door and she gave them one final wave as she left.

_“Interesting,”_ Hikaru thought from where he stood at the bus stop across the street, watching the exchange. _“If Sunfire’s sending his second to go check on this boy, he must really be worth something to them.”_

The bus came and he got on, double checking the route he had planned. Stop 3 would put him right outside the Lucky Cat Café. And there he would wait for his quarry to come home.

:::::::::::::

Hiro and Baymax took the trolley home, getting there just in time to help Cass with the evening rush. She gave him a hug and kiss as carefully as she could while carrying a full coffee pot and Hiro grabbed an apron and a rag and started to help.

It was about eight when the rush died off and Hiro helped Cass clean up, chatting with her about his time with his friends until the shop closed at nine.

“I need to grab something from the garage real quick then I’ll be up,” Hiro told her and gave her a hug.

“Okay. Thanks for helping me out.” She gave him a kiss on the head and he laughed, trying to pull away and straighten it. “Love you!” she called as she headed for the stairs.

“Love you too.”

Hiro headed to the garage, followed by Baymax. He had started repairs on his helmet earlier that day and then left it to download the new software and run diagnostics while he was at Fred’s. He figured he would check it before bed and then finish it in the morning.

The garage was dark and smelled like oil and dust as Hiro sat down at his desk. He flicked his desk light on and unplugged his helmet while smothering a yawn. Nothing felt amiss until he heard a sound like a zipper and the rushing of air followed by Baymax saying, “I have been punctured.”

Hiro started to turn around, Baymax’s name on his lips, when suddenly there was a hand over his mouth, pressing a damp cloth to it while another arm held him tight in a choke hold. He struggled, twisting this way and that, but within seconds he felt his body going limp, the tips of his fingers tingling, and everything went black.

::::::::::::::

All things considered, Hiro really hated being kidnapped. 0/10, would not recommend. His head throbbed and his fingers and toes were all pins and needles, though that might have been from how tightly his arms and legs were bound. He kind of wanted to throw up, but he didn’t quite know where he was and figured that might be a bad idea. His stomach however, begged to differ.

He groaned, pushing his eyelids open with pure strength of will. He saw someone’s shoes and pant legs in front of him and that was as far as his brain got before his stomach took over and he threw up on their shoes.

There were multiple cries of disgust, but he was too busy coughing to figure out who they were or really anything useful. Reality became a little sharper as someone kicked him in the stomach and away from his previous spot. The floor was white marble and the room felt big. Before he could try and sit up himself, someone pulled him into a sitting position.

“Well, he’s awake,” someone- not the person holding him- said.

“Those shoes cost me $300,” the man holding him growled and shook him.

“If you keep shaking me,” Hiro choked out. “It’ll probably happen again.”

There was a bark of laughter from the third person in the room and the man holding him let him go.

Finally gaining a moment of peace, Hiro looked around.

Of course it was Hikaru whose shoes he had puked on. The other two people in the lavish drawing room were the siblings from the night before. The woman- Hyun-joo- sat on a black armchair while her brother sat on the sofa next to her. They could have put Hiro there, but no, they had to drop him on the floor like a sack of potatoes.

“Where am I?” he asked. “Who are you?”

“Oh, I think you’re perfectly aware of who we are,” the man- Jun-ha- said, standing up and approaching the young teen. “Hikaru got a good look at your face the other night. Pity the bullet didn’t hit its mark, but, we’ll make it work.”

Hiro’s blood ran cold and words Aunt Cass wouldn’t let him say ran through his head.

“He also saw you with Sunfire the other day, isn’t that right?” Hyun-joo asked, looking at Hikaru. He nodded. “How do you know him?”

“I- I have no idea what you guys are talking about-“ He was cut off by another swift kick to the stomach from Jun-ha and resisted the urge to puke again as he fell on his side, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the floor. The last thing he needed was a concussion.

“Vomit and I’ll do worse than kick you.” When it was clear Hiro was not going to throw up, Jun-ha approached and knelt down next to him. “Your role is simple. You just need to look scared and pathetic and helpless. And you’re doing a fantastic job already. We’ll do the rest. Come on.”

With surprising strength, Jun-ha hoisted Hiro to his feet and dragged him to the other side of the room and dropped him into a kitchen chair set up in front of a plain wall.

Hyun-joo joined the other two in front of Hiro and pulled out her phone while Jun-ha tied a gag around Hiro’s mouth then stood behind him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

“3, 2, 1,” she quietly announced, and hit the record button.

“To Big Hero 6. Leave us alone. Leave our business alone and we’ll be happy to return your leader to you. Otherwise, we might just have to drop him in with the next shipment. We’ll give you a drop zone in 24 hours- just to let it… sink in.”

“Perfect.” Hyun-joo stopped the video. “And one for Sunfire.” Jun-ha switched places with Hikaru and Hiro’s heart was beating out of his chest.

Hyun-joo hit record and mouthed “go.” Hikaru smiled.

“Hello Sunfire. Look what I have,” he singsonged, grabbing Hiro’s chin and wiggling it side to side. “You know what I want. Contact me within 24 hours and the kid lives. The longer it takes though,” he drawled, slipping a knife from his sleeve and flicking it across Hiro’s cheek. “Well, he just might not be in one piece.”

“And cut,” Hyun-joo announced. “Well done. I’ll send these off and get someone to clean up this mess. You two move him downstairs where he won’t get in the way.”

Again, Hiro was dragged across the floor, but this time he was panicked enough to struggle. It didn’t seem to slow the two of them down at all- Jun-ha dragging him and Hikaru following behind, hands in his pockets. Going down the stairs was a mess and Hiro knew he was going to be bruised all over come tomorrow. The bottom floor of the house was just as opulent as the first, though it seemed more lived in. Hiro was intrigued and terrified as they moved into a library and Jun-ha pulled a book from the shelf and the bookcase turned to the side, revealing a secret room.

“Fun thing about this room?” Jun-ha said, tossing him to the ground and turning to leave. “Sound proof walls. Have fun.” Hikaru smiled a devilish smile and they were left alone.


	4. Demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiro gets rescued and Sunfire makes an offer. The team tries to get him to remember who he really is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Happy Holidays!! Thanks so much for your guys' support and please enjoy this chapter!

It had been a half hour and Hiro still hadn’t come back from the garage, so Cass went down to check on him. Through the screen door she saw Baymax deflated and sparking on the ground and her mind immediately leapt into a panic.  


“Baymax!” she cried, bursting through the door. “Hiro? Hiro, are you there? Baymax what happened?” she said, kneeling at his side.  


“We-we-we we were att-t-t-t-t-tack-k-k-ked.” His eyes were blinking slowly, one at a time. “Hiro was t-t-t-t-taken. Call Ssssunfire-e-e-e-e.”  


“Sunfire?” How did Baymax know about Sunfire? “Why him? Who took Hiro?”  


“G-g-g-gang. Shu-shutting doowwwn.”  


“No, no, no, Baymax!” Cass shook the robot, but he was unresponsive. She felt some tears welling up and brushed them away. First, she would call Sunfire and demand an explanation. Then, she would call her nephew’s friends and see if they couldn’t fix Baymax.  


It was going to be a long night.  


::::::::::::::  


For the first time in a long time, Sunfire had a night to himself. No late night shady business deals, no dinners or gambling matches or bot fights to run, so he was planning on turning in early and watching a movie with Dakota.  


“Your phone is ringing,” she called from the bedroom. He finished drying his face, admiring the clean shave for a split second, before heading into the bedroom to answer it.  


“Hello?” he asked. He hoped this would be quick.  


“Sunfire, this is Cass from the Lucky Cat Café. Hiro’s been kidnapped.”  


“Wait, what?” So much for quick.  


“About a half hour ago. I went down to the garage to check on him, he was gone, and his robot was broken on the ground. He managed to tell me to call you and that a gang took him before he shut down.”  


“Okay, okay, calm down. Do you have any other information?”  


“No. No, I- I called his friends, they’re all geniuses, they’re going to fix Baymax. Maybe they know something.”  


“Alright. I’ll send my best person over-“ he said, glancing at Dakota who had already changed out of pajamas and was putting on her shoes. “While I start asking questions and looking around. We’ll find him. I promise.”  


“Thank you.” She sounded so sincere. “I’ll be here.”  


Sunfire hung up and Dakota looked at him expectantly.  


“So? Ideas?” she asked, already knowing where he was going.  


“I’m going to find Hikaru and I’m going to snap his neck.”  


:::::::::::::  


It took Sunfire longer than he had hoped to sniff out where the Magpies were holed up, but by midnight he had found their mansion in the hills of San Fransokyo. He was just approaching the house when he got a message on his phone. He watched with ever growing rage as Hikaru taunted and then injured Hiro just to get at him. He couldn’t help but be grateful to Cass for calling as early as she did. If they were just starting the search he couldn’t imagine how Hiro would end up at the end of it.  


He approached the house from the side and located a side door. He melted the lock and the alarm system attached to it and opened it with ease just in time to see Jun-ha close a secret book case door behind him.  


He didn’t even pause. He launched a fireball at the rival gang leader and watched him cry out in shock and then pain, arms and hands burned from trying to shield himself. Sunfire was on him in an instant and with a swift kick, broke his kneecap, sending him to the floor. He put a foot on his chest and pulled a fist back, ready to blast the trembling gang leader’s face in at a moment’s notice.  


“Give me a reason. Give me a reason.”  


When Jun-ha didn’t give him a reason, he removed his foot and pulled the same book he had seen fall back into place when Jun-ha closed the door. The secret door opened and Sunfire found Hikaru straddling a struggling Hiro, knife in hand. He hesitated only to aim and shot a pillar of blue flame that engulfed Hikaru’s head. Hiro let out a muffled scream as Hikaru’s body slumped to the side and then his brother was there, removing the bonds and the gag and just holding him as he cried.  


“I gotcha. I gotcha. No, no, don’t look. I gotcha.”  


Hiro was shaking like a leaf and obviously wouldn’t be able to walk for a while, so Tadashi just scooped him up and carried him out of the room. Jun-ha was still there, trying to crawl to the stairs now, and with one smooth movement, Tadashi drew his gun and shot the rival gang leader twice. Hiro flinched at the loud noise, but Tadashi soothed him as they walked back out the door. It was time to get him home.  


Tadashi called Cass and then Dakota to let them know he had Hiro and that they were on the way back to the café. He carried Hiro back to his car and slid him into the passenger seat.  


“I’ll be right back,” he whispered. “Wait here.” Hiro latched onto his sleeve and he had to gently pry it off. “I promise. I’ll be gone two minutes tops, okay? Would having this help?” he asked, pulling his gun out of his holster. Hiro hesitated, then nodded. Tadashi gently handed him the gun.  


“I’ll be right back,” he promised one more time. He closed the door and popped the trunk, pulling out a gallon of gasoline. He hurried back to the house and doused the bushes at the foundation and at the entrances, then went inside to start the process. He torched the bookcases and the furniture and sprinkled the final drops of gas on the grand staircase. Once back outside, he lit the bushes with a flick of his fingers and returned to the car.  


Hiro was watching the blaze with wide, haunted eyes as his brother exited the burning building. It reminded him so much of that other night, but so completely opposite and polar and twisted that it just seemed like a bad dream.  


How many times had he dreamed about Tadashi running out of that building, safe, before the building exploded? How many times had he woken in tears and disappointment at the hard truth?  


And now?  


Sunfire got in the driver’s seat and started them towards home. Hiro didn’t say anything, staring down at the heavy gun in his lap. He wanted to think of something else- anything else besides what had happened tonight.  


“You okay?”  


He startled at his brother’s voice- his brother’s voice. After today it was almost too much.  


“Yeah. Just the cut,” he said, touching his cheek. “You got there before… anything else could happen.”  


“You have your aunt to thank for that. She called me, let me know you were missing.”  


The rest of the ride was spent in silence. They parked across the street from the café. Cass was out the door as soon as she saw them pull up. Tadashi discreetly took the gun back from Hiro and helped him out of the car and into the waiting hug from his aunt.  


“Oh I’m so glad you’re safe,” she muttered again and again. “Thank you,” she said, finally pausing to look up at Sunfire.  


“You’re welcome. Can we step inside for a moment?”  


“Sure.”  


Inside, Honey Lemon, Gogo, Wasabi, Fred, and Dakota sat around their usual table looking worried sick. As soon as they walked in though, they were on their feet, happily crying Hiro’s name and surrounding him in a giant group hug. Dakota sidled up to Tadashi’s side and looped her arm with his.  


“Everything alright?”  


“No. But he is. And that’s what matters right now.”  


Eventually the others let Hiro go and Tadashi was pleased to see a smile on his face. What he wasn’t expecting was them all to turn and stare at him like they had seen a ghost.  


“Um, hi?”  


Gogo took three angry steps forward and looked like she was winding up to punch him. Tadashi took a single step back and brought a protective hand up to his chest, covered in hot, blue flames. Gogo pulled up short, firstly because of the fire, but then at her friend’s uncharacteristic glower.  


“Do I need to remind you who I am?”  


Gogo stepped back, but then Wasabi stepped forward. “No, but we want to remind you who you are.”  


“Excuse me?”  


“Remember how I told you you’re my brother?” Hiro asked.  


“Yes. Which I’m not.”  


“Well, you are and these guys were- are- your best friends.”  


“We’ve made a PowerPoint for you,” Honey Lemon piped up, trying to sound cheerful.  


Tadashi was about to respond, but Dakota’s grip on his arm tightened. “Give them a chance,” she whispered.  


He sighed hard. “This isn’t- we’ve got bigger problems than-“ He stopped. Deep breath. An exhale with a puff of smoke. He had always wanted to know who his family was. Why was he so resistant now? “Two minutes. Show me the PowerPoint.”  


He watched with a scowl, disbelief and pure stubbornness warring with hope as these people showed him picture after picture of him hanging out with them. A marshmallow eating contest with his and Fred’s cheeks stuffed to the limit, Wasabi and him hunched over some technical drawing, a selfie of him and Honey Lemon with her pressing a kiss to his cheek. Then there were pictures of him and Hiro and Cass, cooking, baking, smiling, laughing. There was even a video of all of them singing him happy birthday. His poker face cracked when his doppelganger in the video spoke up. It sounded like him. Felt like him, just slightly younger, less raspy.  


Less of a wanted criminal.  


Finally, they showed him the report of the campus fire and how he had run in right before it exploded.  


“What happened to the professor?” he asked. It was the first thing he had said this whole time. The others exchanged a glance.  


“He escaped. He became Yokai, the supervillain that tried to destroy Krei tech a little over a year ago.” They quickly pulled up a news article about that and let him skim it. There were two pictures, one of Yokai being supported by microbots adjacent to one of the professor’s mug shot. Sunfire’s head was beginning to throb. He flinched as a stabbing pain shot behind his eyeballs. He could have sworn he remembered this guy. There was the feeling of something crawling over his skin and then disappearing, leaving him on the cold, hard ground of the alley. He saw something swoop away across the sky and then nothing.  


His head was throbbing, his heart, hands, chest burning at the implications of everything they were showing him. The fact that this guy had left him to die when he had tried to save him and then lost his life in the process- his very good life by the looks of it- made him seethe.  


“Jap,” Dakota warned.  


He suddenly realized his hands were smoking and he quickly removed them from the lip of the table, but his hands had already left marks in the wood.  


“Sorry. I’ll- I can fix that.”  


“It’s okay,” Cass said. “I’ve been meaning to repaint these anyways.”  


“So?” Hiro asked. “What do you think?”  


“I don’t… remember anything, but you guys do make a really compelling argument. I need some time to think it all over. And that’s the best you’re getting for tonight,” he stated, holding up a finger, before they could say anything else. He turned to Cass. “Can we take a moment to discuss what I wanted to in the first place?”  


“Oh! Right. Of course. Sorry about that.”  


“Thank you.” He rubbed a hand down his face. “I wasn’t planning on having an audience while proposing this, but, the fact of the matter is, is that the Magpies- our rival gang- targeted Hiro to get at me and chances are they won’t stop now that we’ve responded. They know where you live, chances are they know your schedule. You’re not safe here. I want to propose that Hiro stays with me for the time being, until we’ve come to a truce with the Magpies.”  


Nearly everybody cried, “What?!” save for Dakota and Hiro.  


“I’m hoping it will be for less than a week,” Sunfire continued. “With him at my side, no one will dare come after him. Cass, you’re welcome to come too.”  


“I…” She looked so torn and so tired. “No. I need to be here. Your goons didn’t send me running, neither are theirs.”  


“Alright then. Hiro, what do you think?”  


The young teen took a moment to think.  


“I think it makes sense,” he finally said, much to the vocal dismay of his friends. “Think about it guys. Yes, we were taken by surprise this time, but, this isn’t the first close call we’ve had. I would feel safer with Ta-Sunfire.”  


They didn’t really have a good response to that.  


“Are you sure?” Honey Lemon asked quietly.  


“Positive.”  


“Well, we won’t stop you. But you better come back safe and sound,” Gogo warned.  


“I will. Don’t worry. We both will.” Sunfire started to say something at that, but stopped himself. Why, he couldn’t say.  


“Shoot!” Hiro suddenly cried. “Baymax! Is he okay?”  


“We fixed him,” Wasabi reassured him. “He’s charging now.”  


“You guys are the best. I’m gonna go check on him really quick.”  


“Mind if I come?” He pulled up short at Tadashi’s request.  


“Sure.” He smiled. “He’s your robot after all.”  


Sure enough, in the garage was Baymax, fully inflated, eyes closed as he charged. Hiro wasted no time in checking him over and then plugged his laptop in while Sunfire watched with interest. He peered closely at Baymax’s face.  


“Hyper spectral cameras?”  


“Yeah.”  


“Sweet. May I?”  


“Go right ahead.”  


He stuck his face in Baymax’s stomach. “Nice. Carbon fiber?”  


“Yep. He can lift up to 1000 pounds.”  


“That’s insane.”  


It felt like such a normal conversation- talking tech with his brother. Hiro could almost imagine it was normal.  


“You built him you know.”  


“Did I?”  


“Yeah. Hang on. Let me see if they’re still… there!” He triumphantly clicked a button and a video popped up on Baymax’s chest of a happy, smiling Tadashi.  


_“Test 13. Lucky number 13. Here we go.” He nervously turned Baymax on.  
_

__

“Hello. I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare assist-t-t-t-t-taaaant.”  


__

“Dang it, come on, come on,” he groaned, tapping the side of Baymax’s head. Tadashi sighed. “Well, let’s run some tests and see what went wrong. We’ll get there.” _  
_

____

He pulled up one more as Sunfire watched, enraptured.  


____

_“Test number, uh, 84?”  
_

______ _ _

“I-he- uh, sounds so tired,” Sunfire commented breathlessly.  


______ _ _

They watched the video and Baymax’s first successful scan. Hiro glanced from his brother’s joyful face on the screen to the one beside him.  


______ _ _

He… did not look so happy. His jaw was clenched as he stared intently at the screen, the blue glow from the monitor throwing his burn scars into stark relief.  


______ _ _

“Let’s go,” he grumbled and headed back inside.  


______ _ _

Hiro’s heart fell. What would it take for his brother to remember? He closed his laptop, satisfied that Baymax was okay.  


______ _ _

“I’ll be back soon buddy. You take care of the others while I’m gone. I- he needs me right now.” Then he stood and went back inside.  


______ _ _

::::::::::::::::  


______ _ _

Sunfire gave him a couple minutes to grab whatever he wanted and say good bye to his friends while he and Dakota spoke discreetly in the corner. At the same time, the others were discussing if Sunfire and Dakota were in an item in the other corner.  


______ _ _

“She called him Jap. That’s racist,” Gogo said.  


______ _ _

“I don’t think she meant it like that,” Honey said exasperatedly. “Besides, did you see how she was holding his arm earlier?”  


______ _ _

“Do we have to talk about this?” Wasabi asked. “Really?”  


______ _ _

“It’s important,” they snapped, just as Hiro came down the stairs.  


______ _ _

“Ready?” Tadashi asked.  


______ _ _

“As I’ll ever be.”  


______ _ _

“Oh, I’ll miss you.” Aunt Cass gave him a hug which he returned full force. “Be careful.”  


______ _ _

“You too,” he whispered. “I love you Aunt Cass.”  


______ _ _

“Love you too,” she said with a kiss on the head.  


______ _ _

The others gathered around him in a half group hug, half team huddle.  


______ _ _

“I’m leaving Baymax with you guys. Keep doing what we do. Watch each other’s backs. And thanks for letting me do this.”  


______ _ _

“You got this Hiro,” Honey said.  


______ _ _

“Bring our boy back,” Fred said.  


______ _ _

“Love you guys.”  


______ _ _

“We love you too.”  


______ _ _

Hiro waved once more from the car’s passenger seat, Dakota opting to take the back, as they drove away.  


______ _ _

Second thoughts and doubts bombarded him the moment they were out of eye shot of the café.  


______ _ _

“It’ll be okay,” Dakota said, seeming to sense his unease, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “We’ll figure this out and get you home as soon as possible.”  


______ _ _

“Right.”  


______ _ _

The sky was just beginning to lighten with the oncoming dawn as they returned to a brownstone apartment on the opposite end of town and at least fifteen miles from the apartment they had retreated to only a couple nights ago.  


______ _ _

“Home sweet home,” Tadashi said as they pulled up to the curb. “Dakota will get you’ve settled. I’ve got a couple loose ends to tie up and then I’ll be back.”  


______ _ _

Adrenaline hit Hiro like a truck. “You’re leaving?” he squeaked.  


______ _ _

“I’ll be back before you even wake up,” he promised. “Okay? I trust Dakota with my life. Therefore I trust her with yours.”  


______ _ _

“But what if-“  


______ _ _

“Bup. Nothing. Go.”  


______ _ _

He wasn’t really given a choice in the matter as he pulled away before Hiro could say anything. Dakota placed a hand on his shoulder.  


______ _ _

“I know it’s scary,” she sighed. “But believe me when I say that I know he’ll come back. And we’ll be here waiting. Come on.”  


______ _ _

She led the way into the apartment which consisted of a narrow hallway leading directly to the kitchen and living room, with a set of stairs directly to the right of the door leading to the second floor.  


______ _ _

“This was Oyabun’s personal safe house. Only he knew about it. Tadashi inherited it along with everything else. Your room’s up here.” She lead the way up the stairs to a small landing that in turn lead to a bathroom and two bedrooms, sparsely, but tastefully decorated.  


______ _ _

“Take your pick. Feel free to crash if you want. I’m gonna make some breakfast if you want any.”  


______ _ _

"Thanks.”  


______ _ _

Dakota went back downstairs and Hiro picked the smaller of the two rooms, dumping his duffel bag at the foot of the bed. Crashing sounded really good right about now actually. With a groan, he belly flopped on the bed and was out.  


______ _ _

:::::::::::::::::::  


______ _ _

It was 3:45 in the morning and Callaghan watched as the clock ticked to 3:46. His demons were running circles in his head and had been for the past hour. The constant red glow of the security camera’s recording light felt like eyes watching him and he couldn’t even blame them.  


______ _ _

It had been almost a year and a half since his lowest point and subsequent arrest. Reflecting on it tonight he recommitted to never stooping that low again. 

______ _ _

Everyone had been surprised at the juxtaposition of the mild mannered professor to the crazed supervillain, but he was determined to be on his best behavior, if only for his daughter.  


______ _ _

And for the Hamadas.  


______ _ _

His thoughts were interrupted as, suddenly, the ever watching red eyes went dark and the door to his cell slid open. Warily, he sat up and was surprised to see one of the guards standing there. He clicked a couple buttons at the control panel, and the glass door of Callaghan’s room slid open, allowing him to exit.  


______ _ _

“Officer Tate? What’s going on?”  


______ _ _

“Hands.”  


______ _ _

Not understanding, but knowing he couldn’t fight it without repercussions, Callaghan extended his wrists and Officer Tate attached a pair of handcuffs and pulled him to his feet.  


______ _ _

“Come on. You have a visitor.”  


______ _ _

That did not inspire confidence. Callaghan had made it known, quite firmly, multiple times, that he was not going to help whatever villain of the week with their scheme, whether they came from in the prison or without. Whoever it was this time, he would have to tell the same thing.  


______ _ _

“May I ask who it is?”  


______ _ _

“Emissary from the Red Phoenixes: Sunfire.”  


______ _ _

That could make it a little trickier. There were inmates from the Red Phoenixes in the jail and he had heard rumors about this Sunfire. The number one thing the professor knew was that he was dangerous.  


______ _ _

Officer Tate led him down the hall and into an empty interrogation room, attaching Callaghan’s cuffs to the table.  


______ _ _

“Three minutes,” he warned and left.  


______ _ _

“Thank you.”  


______ _ _

The raspy voice came from the shadows and Callaghan managed not to jump. However, he could not so easily hide his shock as the ghost from his past stepped into the dim light.  


______ _ _

“Hello Professor.”  


______ _ _

Callaghan sat there, opening and closing his mouth, adrenaline and fear and disbelief coursing through his veins, as he looked at Tadashi Hamada.  


______ _ _

“You look scared. What is it? The scars? The tattoos? Or is it just my _face? _”  
__

________ _ _ _ _

“You’re- but you’re-“  


________ _ _ _ _

“Dead? No, I’m pretty sure I’m worse off than that now.” He pulled out the opposite chair and sat down, hands clasped in front of him. “You’re going to answer two questions as payment for me not killing you here and now.”  


________ _ _ _ _

Callaghan’s mind was trying to catch up with every new revelation. Tadashi hadn’t died. He was now part of the yakuza. He was changed. He hadn’t tried to track him down until now and that seemed important. He needed to know more.  


________ _ _ _ _

“Very well. Ask away.”  


________ _ _ _ _

“One. Am I Tadashi Hamada?”  


________ _ _ _ _

“Wh-“  


________ _ _ _ _

“ _Am I Tadashi Hamada? _” he nearly yelled, slamming his hands on the table, a couple stray flames rolling off of him, making the professor flinch.  
__

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Yes! Yes. I recognize you. You are Tadashi Hamada.”  


__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sunfire sat back, an indescribable emotion on his face. He rubbed his jaw, staring at the table, appearing lost in thought. Observing his former student, Callaghan couldn’t help but compare his outburst to his experience as Yokai. What had he done to this poor boy? And what had happened since then?  


__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Two,” he finally said. “Why?” It came out as more of a growl. His eyes flicked up, making contact with Callaghan’s. “I came in to save you and you left me to die.”  


__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Callaghan sighed. “No one was supposed to come back in. The whole building was engulfed. I saw you right as the explosion went off. You were standing next to a chemistry display and I tried to shield you in time, I did, but obviously, I was too late. By the time I got out of the building and got a good look at you, I thought you were dead. I panicked. I had plans and this wasn’t a part of it. So, I left you. I thought someone would find your body and assume you had barely escaped.”  


__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sunfire laughed. “Well, you’re not wrong. Someone did find me. Turned out to be the Red Phoenixes, I turned out to be alive, and turns out not finishing the job has a price.” He stood. “You’re going to burn Callaghan. Whether by my hand or after this life, I don’t know yet.”  


__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Callaghan flinched at the slamming of the door and was once again left alone with his now laughing demons.  


__________ _ _ _ _ _ _


	5. In Which Things Start Out Okay and Get Infinitely Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see Dakota's sick tattoo, things explode, Hiro is kidnapped (again), Sunfire and BH6 team up (just a little), and Agents of SHIELD references are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, wow, hi everyone. Please enjoy this monster of a chapter and thanks for reading!
> 
> Also! A note! I've changed the warnings from No Warnings Apply to Graphic Depictions of violence because, well, explosions and gang violence. Nothing is described in detail, but like, people get hurt.

Hyun-joo paced around her room- her actual room, in the apartment that she lived in most of the time- keeping an eye on the news while trying to call her brother for the third time and still getting no response.

“Come Jun-ha, pick up,” she muttered. Her attention was caught by the TV as a reporter was giving the latest details of the house fire that had engulfed the Magpie’s mansion.

“Two were found dead in the building. Firefighters are waiting for the rest of the rubble to settle before continuing their search. It appears-“

She shut the TV off and let out a scream, throwing the remote at her pillow before collapsing on her bed. Tears rolled down her cheeks and ugly sobs shook her body. Her brother, her only remaining family, was dead. And she knew exactly who was responsible for it.

Sunfire wanted to play with fire? Fine. Then Hyun-joo would burn this city to the ground and stop at nothing to take him with it.

::::::::::::::::::

A splash of late afternoon sunlight landed on Hiro’s face, waking him from his peaceful slumber. He grumbled a little bit, but opened his eyes and rolled to the edge of the bed. Now that he was awake he realized how hungry he was. He stood and stretched and wondered if his brother was back. He exited the room and glanced in the other and nearly tripped down the stairs as he accidentally saw Dakota putting on a shirt. She was facing away from him thankfully, sitting on the bed, and he had to stop himself from staring because her entire back was covered in the most stunning tattooed portrait of a phoenix and a peacock that actually shimmered in the sunlight.

Dakota turned, obviously having heard him, and gave him a smile. “Morning. Or, well, afternoon. Sleep well?”

“Uh, yeah. Thanks. Your tattoo-” He stopped himself; he didn’t want to be rude.

“Oh! Do you want to see it?”

He could feel himself blushing as she pulled her shirt up to reveal the full thing, but he approached anyway, curiosity driving him forward.

It was beautiful. The phoenix was on top, wings unfurled with a unique gold ink tracing each individual feather. It was fighting a peacock whose feathers were spread all across her lower back, again laced with a shimmering teal ink.

“Wow,” he breathed nearly reaching out to touch it. He paused and noticed something under the ink. A lot of somethings actually. The tattoo covered a bunch of long, thin scars that seemed to cover her entire back. “It covers your scars?” he asked.

Dakota nodded, pulling her black t-shirt back down. “That’s the whole thing about the Phoenixes. We rise from the flames.” She gave him a thin smile. “You have a good family Hiro. Treasure that.” She sighed and stood. “Come on. Tadashi’s downstairs.”

As she followed Hiro down the stairs, Dakota’s mind started to spiral. Inwardly, she cursed herself. Now was not the time to dissociate, but here she was anyway. She knew she shouldn’t have shown Hiro her back, she knew it would probably trigger her, but her tattoo was super dope and she never got to show it off. That was life she supposed.

She felt like she was floating, gliding almost, as they found Tadashi in the kitchen. Hiro went over to him while Dakota curled up in the corner of the couch, staring at the wall. Hiro was so lucky to have such a wonderful family. She was happy for him. She was happy for Jap. He was getting his family back, like he had always wanted.

But now, for the first time, she wondered where that left her.

The yakuza hadn’t been a good home. Better than her first, but still not good. She was surprised no one from Big Hero 6 had noticed or commented, but she was missing the first joint on her right pinky finger. One slip up, from her first year in the yakuza, and that was the punishment. She had become a lot sneakier since then.

But then something unexpected had happened. Jap had shown up. He was kind. He was new. He was in a messed up situation that, if she had to guess, wasn’t his fault. And since that day, Dakota had made it her mission that, no matter what, Jap would keep his humanity. He wouldn’t become what she had.

They spent a lot of time together while she was his direct tender. They went everywhere together while she taught him what being part of the family meant. And he made her laugh and smile- genuinely smile- and suddenly life was worth living again.

She was completely taken aback the first time he asked if he could kiss her: firstly at the request, but then secondly because he had asked. And she knew from that moment on, she would do anything for him.

And he would do the same for her.

And suddenly Jap was there in front of her, looking concerned. Without a second thought, she wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her into his lap for an all-encompassing hug. This was her safe place.

“Did something happen?” he asked Hiro, running his fingers through her hair.

“She showed me her tattoo,” Hiro ventured. “And I mentioned her scars. But she seemed fine.”

“Ah. That explains it.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-“

“It’s not your fault. This happens sometimes. She’ll be okay. Pass me my phone.” Hiro grabbed it off the counter and tossed it to him then took a seat at the end of the couch. Tadashi glanced at him, lips pursed.

“Would you mind… leaving? I’ve got some business calls to make and, y’know, the more plausible deniability we can give you the better.”

“Oh. Sure. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Sunfire shook his head. “I’ll come get you in a bit. Now get out of here.”

:::::::::::::::

The rest of the day was quiet. Hiro texted his friends for a while, assuring them that everything was fine so far, and then slept some more until a nightmare woke him up. He wondered if he should feel bad that he was glad Hikaru was dead. Regardless, he was just grateful Tadashi had shown up when he did.

Shaking the memories from his head, Hiro crept down the stairs and found his brother and Dakota curled up on the couch asleep. Man, all their sleep schedules were going to be wack after today.

He snuck into the kitchen and was making himself a sandwich when Tadashi’s phone started to ring. He paused, waiting to see if his brother would wake up, but when he showed no indication of doing so, Hiro crept over to take a look. It was an unknown number. Hiro briefly wondered if he should answer it, considered how he would even address a fellow gang member, and shook his brother’s shoulder. Tadashi froze under his hand and then opened his eyes. “What is it?”

“Uh, your phone is ringing.”

Tadashi fumbled for his phone and answered it just as Dakota started to stir. Hiro awkwardly went back to making his sandwich while trying to eavesdrop inconspicuously. 

Tadashi was speaking in Japanese, something Hiro didn’t know he could do, and eventually sighed and hung up. He stood and stretched with a groan then let out a yelp as Dakota dragged him back down to the couch and planted a kiss on his cheek. 

“What’s up?” she asked, seemingly back to normal.

“I’ve got to go down to the club. Someone’s got a tip on the Magpies and they’ll only talk to me. Ae-cha and Stan are working security tonight so I should be fine if you’ll stay here and watch Hiro.”

“I don’t need a babysitter y’know,” Hiro protested, but the others ignored him.

“Sounds good,” Dakota said, smothering a yawn. “We’ll be fine. You go. Be safe.”

“Will do.” He bent down to kiss her then turned to Hiro, pointing a stern finger at the teenager. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.”

Dakota couldn’t help the bark of laughter that escaped and even Sunfire and a slight smile on his face.

“Nice. I’ll be back.”

They watched as Tadashi left, closing the door quietly behind him. Dakota got to her feet and stretched with a groan.

“Hey, I hope I didn’t freak you out earlier. I don’t remember much, but I’m guessing I dissociated.”

“You’re fine,” Hiro said. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. Want a sandwich?”

“Hell yeah.”

They worked in companionable silence making food and then chewing quietly before Hiro finally got up the courage to ask the question he had been pondering. 

“So… you guys… are together?”

“Yeah. Have we not mentioned that yet?”

“Nope.”

“Oh. Well. Now you know.”

They kept eating until Hiro could spit his second question out.

“Um, so about you dissociating. If that happens when Tada- Sunfire isn’t here, what should I do?”

She thought about it for a moment. “If we’re somewhere safe, pressure and contact really help. Basically hug me until I snap out of it. If we’re not somewhere safe, just keep up. I can still get out of whatever situation it is, but I might forget you’re there,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Alright. I can do that.”

“Hopefully you’ll never have to.”

:::::::::::::::::::

After a week Hiro was starting to lose his mind. Tadashi and Dakota were almost never there. He had both of their phone numbers in case anything went wrong and he spent most of his day texting his friends, begging for any updates they had on, well, anything. He was listening to Fred’s quote-unquote scientific endeavor to prove he could fit a whole bag of marshmallows in his mouth when he realized he was well on his way to losing it.

“Hey Fred, I’ve, uh, gotta go. I’ll call you back later.”

“Ohay bah Hehro.” He guessed it was a goodbye, but his mouth was so packed with marshmallows, Hiro couldn’t be sure.

He got up from his bed and wandered downstairs, only to pace the living room. He had already explored the whole apartment while the others had been gone, out of boredom more than anything, but it was a small apartment and hadn’t lasted long. But this was Oyabun’s safehouse, another part of him whispered. There had to be something secret here.

So he searched again. He cleared out all the cabinets in the kitchen, tested for false floorboards and hidden panels in the back of closets. He checked under all the beds and stared at the bathroom before first, cleaning it, and second, tearing it apart. He finally fell back onto his bed in defeat and stared at the ceiling. After about ten minutes he rolled off and rolled under the bed. Hadn’t checked here yet. In all honesty, there wasn’t much to see. The floor was carpeted and he couldn’t feel any hollow points. There was an electrical outlet and a… surprisingly large air vent. Hm.

More on a whim than out of any actual suspicion, Hiro scooted over to investigate and started to undo the screws with his fingers when he heard a noise downstairs. He froze. Maybe it was just the whole being-under-the-bed-searching-the-apartment-don’t-want-to-get-caught feeling, but he couldn’t help the spike of adrenaline that coursed through him. He heard the front door open and close and then the click of heels.

Yeah, there was no way that was Tadashi or Dakota. Working faster now, Hiro got the first three bolts loosed and was working on the fourth when he heard the intruder coming up the stairs.

 _Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic,_ he willed himself. There! The panel came loose. Doubts entered Hiro’s mind; while it was larger than normal, even he would be hard pressed to fit in their comfortably. The sound of the intruder searching Tadashi and Dakota’s room made up his mind for him though. He wiggled in backwards, desperately trying to be quiet, and replaced the panel behind him. Hiro scooted back until he came to a corner then paused. He wouldn’t be visible should someone look under the bed, but he would be able to see them. He glanced around the corner and was actually surprised to find a wad of cash, a hand gun, and sick looking dagger. So Oyuban had hidden some things.

His attention was drawn back as, sure enough, the intruder entered his room next. 

All he could currently see was a pair of black, block heels and the bottom of a pair of black slacks. The intruder opened the closet and then checked under the bed. Hiro barely dared to breathe as Hyun-joo stood back up and sighed.

“Disappointing. I really hoped someone would be here. Oh well, I can send a message just the same.”

Hiro strained his ears and managed to hear her set something on his desk then turn and leave. He waited until he heard the front door close then counted to one hundred and slowly extracted himself from the vent.

On the desk was a kitchen timer, shaped like a cute little chicken. It had roughly forty seconds left on it and Hiro’s eyes widened. He didn’t know what was going to happen when that thing went off, but he didn’t want to be here when it did.

He flew down the stairs and leapt out the front door before taking off in a dead sprint down the street. He tried to count down in his mind and had only reached thirty six when he was blown off his feet by the explosion behind him.

He rolled almost twenty feet, hitting his head at least once and getting a good case of road rash on the way. As the lights from the blast blinked in Hiro’s vision all he could think of clearly was that he had had enough explosions for one lifetime. 

Debris, large and small, rained down on the street. A crater was all that remained of the condo, the ones on either side of it half-collapsed and ablaze. People screamed, car alarms blared, all was chaos. In the distance, sirens could be heard. Hiro’s ears were ringing as he pulled himself to his feet and stumbled further down the street. He had to get away; he doubted Hyun-joo had gone far. The ground shook as, in the distance, another explosion could be heard followed closely by a second. As Hiro stumbled and fell to the ground again, he couldn’t help but feel that the world was ending.

He was struggling to his knees when he saw someone coming towards him and heard the click of heels. His breath quickened as Hyun-joo kneeled down so she could look him in the eye.

“So someone was home after all. You’re a good hider Hiro.” She smiled a bit, but Hiro could feel the rage behind the mask, radiating like another bomb about to go off. The young teenager tried to focus, but his ears were still ringing and if he moved too quickly he started seeing double.

“Sh, sh, stay there,” she said, reaching around to grab his phone out of his pocket. She stood and Hiro heard her take a picture. “This should get that brother of yours moving.” She dropped it on the ground, shattering it with her heel for good measure. “Now let’s get you out of here.”

With every passing moment, Hiro’s disorientation grew worse instead of better and it was with ease that Hyun-joo pulled him to his feet and helped him down the street and into a waiting car.

“Let me… let me go,” he said, trying to make it sound commanding, but it came out more as begging.

“Oh I will. Just not here. Sh, sh,” she warned, gripping his upper arm with a strong, sharp nailed hand. He could feel the bruise it would leave later. “Don’t struggle. Or things will get a lot messier than they already are. Not that I would be complaining,” she admitted, putting the car into drive, leaving the carnage behind them.

:::::::::::::::

Sunfire wasn’t even doing anything important when he got the text. He was sitting in Oyabun’s office- his office now, he supposed- going through reports- who had trespassed where, the income from this past week, what upkeep needed to be done in the karaoke bars, and so on- when the building shook.

Living in San Fransokyo, one got used to earthquakes, so he didn’t overly panic until he heard the explosion.

Peering suspiciously out the window, he was shocked to see three columns of thick black smoke dotting the horizon. Someone knocked hesitantly at the door and one of the assistants poked their head in.

“Sir?”

“Any idea what’s going on?” Sunfire asked.

“No sir. Do you want to move to the bunker until it’s safe? This could be the Magpies.”

Sunfire barely heard him. He had moved back to his desk and, seeing that he had a text from Hiro, unlocked it only to be greeted by the sight of his brother bloodied and bruised, the remains of the explosion glowing behind him.

Tadashi tore out the door before his assistant could say another word.

:::::

“Here we are,” Hyun-joo announced. Hiro grimaced, barely hearing her as his headache spiked. Oh he was seriously messed up. All pretenses of being gentle were gone as the rival mob boss opened the door and bodily dragged him out of the car and let him fall to the ground.

It was damp, cold, almost bliss, if not for the scent of salt on the air and every single mafia movie line that mentioned, “taking someone for a swim” coming back to haunt him. He tried to get up, his legs slightly steadier, before he was knocked back down with a vicious shove. Something heavy was attached to his leg and then Hyun-joo was rolling him, rolling him, and there was nothing he could do, come on, come on, think, a different angle, a different angle, a different-

And then the dock was gone and the water rushed up to meet him and he was sinking, sinking, sinking. He almost laughed as he saw Wasabi’s car, half buried in silt by this point, before the darkness engulfed him.

:::::::::::::::

Dakota thanked her lucky stars that she was there to see Hyun-joo drive off with Hiro. She didn’t even have time to stop her bike before she was following them, doing her best to keep her distance, but it was so, so hard not to rush them and beat that woman to a pulp.

Exerting every ounce of self-control she had, Dakota slowed down to follow them onto the highway at a more sedate pace. Of course that was where things started to go wrong and she got stuck behind the slowest semi in the world. It didn’t help that people were panicking, trying to get out of the city as fast as they could, which made her motorcycle both a blessing and a curse.

She finally put the traffic behind her only to find that she had lost them. Cursing under her breath, she kicked the speed up a notch. She wasn’t as familiar with this part of town- it was Magpie territory after all- and now she was paying for it. It was more luck than anything that she saw them at the light of the next exit and she was quick to follow, definitely running a red light, but whatcha gonna do? She missed one more turn and had to find them again and just as she came roaring around the corner, saw Hyun-joo walking back from the edge of the dock looking far too satisfied, Hiro nowhere in sight. 

Dakota didn’t even slow down as she plowed her bike into the other woman and continued down the dock, barely stopping before falling off the edge herself. Abandoning her bike and slapping a button on the side of her helmet, she dove in.

Thankfully Tadashi hadn’t lost everything in the fire. He was still a tech whiz, and her helmet was proof of that as it provided air and protection as she swam downwards towards Hiro. She could see him still sinking, but there was definitely a weight tied to his ankle, attached by a padlock she didn’t have time to remove.

Pressing another button on her helmet activated a small laser that melted through the chain. She wasted no time in grabbing Hiro under the arms and tugging him to the surface. 

Dakota managed to lug him onto the deck, barely registering that Hyun-joo and her car were both gone. She discarded her helmet and could immediately tell that Hiro wasn’t breathing. Panic was setting in a lot faster than reasonable thought was, so she resorted to pounding on his back before remembering that CPR was a thing. She didn’t have a chance to do that though before Hiro started coughing up seawater. He was breathing and he was alive, but still definitely unconscious as he lay limp on the dock. His shirt was torn up, revealing the still bleeding road rash underneath. That couldn’t have felt good with the salt water.

Blessing technology and Sunfire’s upgrade, Dakota pulled out her damp, but still functional phone and made a call. Or, she tried to, but the call didn’t go through. She tried twice more, then tried calling Sunfire, each time being told that the line was disconnected. 

That wasn’t good.

But this is why she and Sunfire made plans. If anything went so horribly wrong and they couldn’t get in contact with each other, there was one place they would go. They hadn’t had to go there since he had moved up the ranks, but it was their best bet. There would be first aid stuff there that she could use to help Hiro.

Moving carefully, she got herself and Hiro situated precariously on her bike, before speeding away.

::::::::::::

Sunfire tried calling Dakota while in the car, speeding back to the apartment, but it went to voicemail. He tried Hiro’s phone, the Lucky Cat Café, but no calls were going through. Either the explosions had damaged the cell towers or they had been purposefully sabotaged. Neither was a good option.

Even from five blocks away he could see the dark black smoke billowing into the sky and hear the sirens as fire trucks and police cars raced to the scene. He had to do a double take as something flew overhead and his lip curled up in an involuntary sneer as he recognized Big Hero 6. Superheroes were more trouble than they were worth, but if they could save lives today, well, Sunfire wouldn’t begrudge them of that. He pulled up as close to the scene as he could. The whole street had been blocked off with cop cars at the edges and two fire engines attempting to put out the still burning remains of the apartment building.

Their apartment building.

Shit.

Sunfire threw on a face mask (useful when you’re on the state’s most wanted list, avoiding awkward questions about your face scars, and keep from breathing in too much smoke), and approached one of the police officers on the scene.

“Officer!” A couple of them turned to look at him, ready to push him back if need be. “My brother-“ the words were out of his mouth before he considered what he was saying. “My brother was in the building that blew up. Have they found anyone?” Their expressions changed from wariness to sympathy in a heartbeat.

“They’ve pulled out some survivors, but the whole structure is unstable, so there may be more in there. As soon as we have news, we’ll let you know.”

“Thank you.”

He returned to his car stalking back and forth along it for a moment, debating whether to try calling Dakota again, when there was a commotion over by the building. He glanced over and saw part of the roof starting to cave. Two members from Big Hero 6 had formed a chain with some of the firemen and were passing a group of survivors they had found out of the wreckage. He watched as the roof splintered filling the air with a horrible cracking noise and it collapsed on top of the tall girl and the last survivor. With split second timing, she threw something on the ground and a giant sponge like substance sprung up, catching the debris and giving them just enough time to get to safety before the roof began to sink through the substance.

Sunfire raked his eyes across the crowd searching for Hiro and not finding him. Should he go in and look for him himself? What if he hadn’t made it? Had Dakota been in there too? There were too many questions and not enough answers and Sunfire was starting to panic and when he started to panic he started to lose control. A building had just blown up here; he couldn’t stand to be responsible for another one.

:::::::::::::::::

Wasabi went to wipe the sweat from his brow before realizing his visor was in the way and so let his arm fall dejectedly to the side instead. He and Honey had just finished clearing the building the best they could. The firefighters were confident no one else was inside or, if they were, they weren’t alive anymore. Honey Lemon was currently trying to convince the fire marshal to let her in one more time, explaining the chemicals she planned to use to clear a path and which ones she had as backup in case things started collapsing. With a reluctant nod, he gave his consent and she sprinted back in.

Wasabi didn’t know how she did it. There had been so many when they got there who hadn’t made it and those images would be seared onto Wasabi’s brain for the rest of time. He just hoped that Fred and Gogo were doing alright at the other blast site while Baymax started working the third one on his own. 

He was about to head over to talk to the survivors, give some comfort if he could, but took a moment to look around the perimeter at the onlookers and police force. Almost immediately, he noticed the sleek, black sports car, but had to do a double take upon seeing the man beside it, but there was no denying it, it was Tadashi. Not entirely sure how to approach the situation, but knowing he probably should, Wasabi jogged over to him.

Sunfire made no move as Wasabi approached. The superhero recognized the glazed look of terror in his eyes and the white knuckled fists with spurts of fire coming out the back of them; minus the fire, it looked like every other time Tadashi had had a panic attack.

Deactivating his plasma knife, Wasabi waved a hand in front of his face. The mob boss jumped, but quickly refocused in on him. His hands immediately unclenched and the fire dissipated.

“Hey, uh, you good?” Wasabi could have smacked himself; that sounded so dumb! It wasn’t his fault though that his best friend lost his memories, turned to a life of crime, and now Wasabi didn’t know the right way to calm him down anymore. 

“My brother was in that building.”

Wasabi’s heart shot to his throat. Oh no. Oh no no no. They had cleared that building. Hiro was _not_ inside.

“I’m so sorry. We think we’ve cleared everyone out. What does he look like? Maybe one of the paramedics is treating him right now.” He knew it was a lie, he knew it. Hiro hadn’t been here. Not unless he was still stuck inside or one of the- no, Wasabi didn’t want to think about it.

Before Sunfire could respond, their attention was torn away by the absolute thunderous roar of an engine. Wait, no, engines.

Coming around the corner were five motorcycles each holding two riders apiece, one to drive and one carrying mean looking guns.

Almost in unison, Wasabi and Tadashi yelled out, “Get down!” right before the bullets started spraying. 

Moving as a team, they stepped out from behind the car and began to fight back. Tadashi created a veritable wave of flames, melting a good portion of bullets in the air. Wasabi leapt out and clotheslined one of the bikers, sending the motorcycle spinning into the police barricade. He managed to sideswipe another one of the bikes as they began to jump the barricade and make their way down the street, shooting as they went, popping the tire and sending two more shooters crashing to the ground. Sunfire was already sprinting towards the paramedics, but he was too slow. They both were. The shooters were on motorcycles for crying out loud. More shots rang off, both from the bikers and the officers- and Sunfire- but the damage was done. Wasabi watched in horror as one of them chucked something into the smoldering remains of the building. Surely, it couldn’t be-

But that didn’t stop him from yelling out, “HONEY!” just as the pipe bomb went off.

The shock wave knocked Wasabi back a little, as ash and dust and debris were thrown back into the air. A cold wind began to whip down the street. People were screaming, crying, only half heard through the whine in the hero’s ears as he scrambled into the building.

“Honey! Honey, where are you!”

“Wasabi?! I’m here- I’m-“ She was cut off by a fit of coughing.

“Hang on! I’m coming!”

He stumbled down through the wreckage when someone pulled him back. He turned, surprised to see Sunfire at his side.

“You’ll get burned. I’ve got her. You go help the others.”

It had been almost second nature at one point to take directions from Tadashi as they worked in sync on Baymax. He may not have been Wasabi’s project, but he was more than willing to give his friend an extra set of hands when needed.

“Alright.”

Wasabi began to climb back out of the wreckage, while Sunfire began to pick his way down, calling the name he’d heard the green one calling her.

“Honey!”

“Down here!”

He could barely see her, just a smear of pink through a gap in the wreckage. He managed to widen the gap so it was big enough that she could reasonably crawl through. 

“Are you alright?”

It was like a dream, watching Tadashi peer into the hole, face partially obscured by the smoke and backlit to boot. But Honey Lemon could hardly focus on that for the waves of pain enveloping her.

“My leg’s pinned,” she managed to get out. It had come down on top of her, crushing her femur she was sure, along with her purse.

“Alright. Hang on.”

She heard Sunfire moving, dragging more pieces of burning debris out of the way, until he could get down to where she was. He whistled at the sight. 

“Yeah, that’s a steel beam.” He hummed to himself before saying, “I think I can cut through it, but it’ll take a minute. Can you breathe alright?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Hang on.”

She couldn’t seem him work, but it sounded like a blow torch, and if she closed her eyes she imagined them back at the lab. But then she would breathe and the smell of smoke would remind her of that fateful day, of everything terrible going on right now, and how they had no idea what to do to fix it. 

Suddenly, the rubble shifted and her leg screamed anew as the beam fell off of it. Immediately, he was at her side, helping her stand. Her eyes were clenched shut, all her focus on staying conscious. 

“Yeah, okay, there’s no way to get you out of here without it hurting, so I’m just going to pick you up, alright?”

She must have nodded, because the next thing she knew, her feet weren’t on the ground anymore and the next-next thing she knew, she was laid out in an ambulance with a worried Wasabi by her face.

“Hey, Baymax is on his way. Paramedics gave you pain meds and set your leg, but Baymax will be doing everything else. Hospitals are… kinda overwhelmed right now. How are you feeling?”

“Mmm blurry,” she finally settled on. “Where’s-“

“He left.” Wasabi paused, like he didn’t want to say the rest. “He said he had a war to go win.”

“This… bigger than a gang war.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re not wrong.”

With a deep sigh, Wasabi backed up, leaving Honey to get her rest. The few paramedics that remained were loading bodies into the last two ambulances. Any survivors had already been taken to the hospital; now all that was left was to transport those not so lucky to the morgue. 

Four paramedics and two firefighters had been shot. Two had died, one was in critical condition, and other had just been grazed. Everything was such a mess and Wasabi had no idea how they were going to fix it.

A stubborn voice reminded him that they couldn’t be blamed for what had happened here. Their only responsibility was to help as much as they could. Just take a step, step again. Just do the next right thing.

And for now, that was helping, waiting, and praying.

::::::::::::

Hyun-joo had left the docks almost immediately after Dakota had jumped off the dock. Stupid bitch. Running her over with a motorcycle. Who did she think she was? All Hyun-joo could do was hope that the damage had been done by the time she managed to drag the boy’s body to shore.

The mob boss swerved to avoid an oncoming car and groaned involuntarily, blood bubbling on her lips. She just had to make it to the rendezvous and then everything would be fixed. 

Everything was ready when she arrived. In a blur, she parked the car and stumbled in the back of instant care center. Her two trusted advisors- both doctors- stared at her in shock before rushing to her side and helping her onto the laidback chair.

“What happened?” Dimitri demanded. If she wasn’t on death’s door, she might have laughed at the expression on his face, glasses almost slipping off his nose.

“Got- got ran over. Motorcyle. Phoenixes.”

“You got- a motorcycle?!” 

Safia, the other doctor, was already hooking her up to the machine, worriedly looking at the vitals that were coming on screen. 

“Manim, the Centipede formula does have an accelerated healing component, but I don’t know if… with this type of damage-“

“Do it,” she growled. She was dead either way if it didn’t work.

Safia nodded. “Right.”

The two doctors bustled around, attaching the energy cells to her inner forearms and a V-shaped one on her chest as well as hooking her up to an IV and another fluid that- if all went according to plan- would cool her system to keep her from spontaneously combusting long enough for the healing to start and the new powers to take hold. While the original Centipede Project had been destroyed decades ago, some of the serum had survived and been refined, rediscovered by a chemist on Hyun-joo’s payroll. Who was she to not take advantage of the very thing that might make her a match for Sunfire?

She could hear her advisors talking to each other and then, with the flip of a switch, pain- no, energy- radiated through her body, pooled under her skin, and scorched every part of her. She might have screamed, she didn’t know, it was all just too much, too much, and then blissful unconsciousness. 

When Hyun-joo woke, she felt better than she had in ages. There was a steady thrum underneath her skin and she heaved a deep breath, free of pain.

Opening her eyes, she found Dimitri and Safia worriedly looking at her.

“How do you feel, Mamin?” Safia asked.

She grinned. “Better than ever.” With a stretch, she sat up. "Ready to kill some Phoenixes."


End file.
